Mike Holmgren will return for a final season as coach of the Seattle Seahawks – but only a final season.

The 59-year-old veteran of 16 seasons as an NFL head coach announced his decision Tuesday to fulfill the final year of his contract, after spending the weekend with his wife at their offseason Arizona home.

“Kathy and I came to this decision to finish my contract,” said Holmgren, who had hinted at retirement for weeks. “This will be my last year. We are going to make it the best year ever.

“And then probably after that, I will take a little time off – but not yet. We are going to go after it hard.”

Two days after Seattle lost at Green Bay in the NFC divisional playoffs, Holmgren was asked if there was a third possibility beyond retiring or finishing the final season of his contract. He signed that extension soon after the Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl to Pittsburgh 23 months ago, at the end of a deal that was paying him about $7 million per season.

Holmgren said yes to the the “longer, larger” option of another contract extension beyond 2008, but the Seahawks have never approached him about it.

Tuesday, Holmgren said his comments about an extension were overblown and “misinterpreted,” that the decision was always about working one more season or retiring.

Holmgren’s record with Green Bay and Seattle, where he arrived in 1999, is 170-110, one win behind former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs for 10th in NFL history. Holmgren is 86-68 in nine seasons with Seattle. He passed Chuck Knox this season for most victories by a Seahawks coach.

T.O. will return to Big `D’

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones plans to pay Terrell Owens’ $3 million roster bonus, which means the All-Pro wide receiver will be back for the final season of his three-year, $25 million contract.

“Yes, we are going to have Terrell back,” Jones said Tuesday at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

Jones added that a contract extension for Owens is something he would consider “down the line.”

Hall of Famer James Lofton was fired as the San Diego Chargers’ wide receivers coach on Tuesday, a surprising move considering the way Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson played down the stretch.

“I was stunned by the news,” Lofton said several hours after he was given word by coach Norv Turner.

“I wasn’t really given a concrete explanation, just that they wanted to go in a different direction,” Lofton said. “I really don’t know. Like I said, I was stunned, surprised. I didn’t see it coming. It was a job that I loved, the team was doing great, I loved the players I was getting to coach. I was really surprised.”

Lofton had been with the Chargers six seasons and had one season remaining on his contract.

Lofton had been wide receivers coach since 2002, when he was hired by then-coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Big ratings for title games

With huge stars and popular teams, the NFL’s conference championship games earned big ratings.

The NFC title game drew a 29.0 national rating and 43 share on Fox. The New York Giants’ 23-20 overtime win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night attracted the highest rating for a conference championship since Green Bay-Carolina earned a 30.1/58 in 1997.

The undefeated New England Patriots’ 21-12 win over the heavy underdog San Diego Chargers drew a 25.7/46 on CBS. That was up 2 percent from the early game last year, the Chicago-New Orleans NFC championship that attracted a 25.1/45.

Combined, the two games averaged 49.7 million viewers, the most for a conference championship weekend in 13 years. The Chargers-Steelers and Cowboys-49ers matchups averaged 49.9 million viewers in 1995.

League cites Titans ruling

The NFL is citing the same jurisdictional grounds the Tennessee Titans used to get out of a lawsuit filed by a man paralyzed in a shooting outside a strip club minutes after a melee involving suspended player Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Clark County District Court judge Jessie Walsh is due to hear arguments Feb. 20 on the league’s claim that Nevada courts lack the reach to hold the league responsible in the wounding of Tommy Urbanski last February outside the Minxx Gentleman’s Club.

In documents filed Jan. 16, league lawyers point to Walsh’s Jan. 9 ruling releasing the Titans from the lawsuit filed by Urbanski, a former club employee.

“Plaintiffs attempt to hold the NFL hostage in this case should prompt the same response,” the league said.

Urbanski and his wife, Kathy, filed the lawsuit Oct. 19, seeking to recover unspecified damages from Jones, the NFL, the Titans and the owners of Harlem Knights, a Houston strip club that rented the Las Vegas club the night of the shooting, during NBA All-Star weekend.

Fassel tops Redskins’ list

Jim Fassel has become a top candidate for the Washington Redskins coaching job after a third interview with owner Dan Snyder.

The former New York Giants coach met with Snyder on Monday, according to a person familiar with the selection process. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Redskins haven’t publicly stated the names of any candidates.

The person said Fassel is also the previously unidentified candidate who interviewed with the owner on Jan. 11 and 12.

Fassel was also a strong contender for the Redskins job in 2004, but all candidates were eclipsed when Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs decided to come out of retirement.

Bucs reward Gruden

Coach Jon Gruden was rewarded Tuesday for Tampa Bay’s worst-to-first turnaround in the NFC South with a three-year contract extension that runs through the 2011 season.

Gruden, who had one year left on a contract that was extended after the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl five seasons ago, earned about $4.3 million in 2007.

General manager Bruce Allen also was given a three-year extension, keeping him under contract for another four seasons.